What is the proper practice for “drinking of the wine” during the communion?
It is the current practice at St. Kevin’s to distribute communion under both species, that is, the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ. After the consecration, we no longer have bread and wine, but Christ himself. Any Catholic, from the time of his First Communion, may receive the Precious Blood from the chalice. Of course, a parent will determine if a child should receive the Blood of Christ, perhaps first allowing the child to taste a sip of wine at home, to facilitate a reverent reception. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 1377 tells us “Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species.” If we receive the Body of Christ alone, or the Blood of Christ alone, we receive Christ fully. A recent Vatican document, Redemptionis Sacramentum, brings together many of the Church’s disciplines pertaining to the Eucharist. Communion under both kinds is permitted to the lay faithful under certain circumstances “so that the fullness of the sign may be made more clearly
